


Of Mad Scientists And Tsundere Assistants.

by Feelstina (ClassOf13)



Category: Steins;Gate
Genre: Angst and Romance, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2018-07-12 11:45:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 5,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7101901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClassOf13/pseuds/Feelstina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A small collection of stories about the evolution of the relationship between Okabe and Kurisu.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arrogance.

He knew that that day was going to be terrible from the moment a gust of awfully hot air hit him as soon as he stuck a foot out of the Laboratory. Things worsened when he let Shiina Mayuri convince him to hand her a metal Oopa who could have had a value of even ten thousand yen.

His only hope of improving that day was put into Doctor Nakabachi's conference on time travel, but after all the Organization couldn't not be on its guard in front of the presence of his figure, Hōōin Kyōma. He sat in the last row of desks with a sigh, grateful for that small satisfaction which was the coolness of the air conditioning. He begun to give a look at the prints on his desk just to be hit by a strong sense of dejà-vù. An heated discussion followed on how Nakabachi's theories were nothing but a mere copy of John Titor's ones and the situation would have worsened considerably, if she hadn't intervened.

When he felt himself being pulled by the sleeve of his labcoat he turned around almost by reflex. He instantly noticed that chestnut hair and blue eyes with long, dark lashes and he almost thought that she was cute, but the thought was nipped in the bud the moment she dragged him out of the room without hearing excuses. Makise Kurisu, that was her name. Even someone without his intellect could have recognized the one who was considered a genius girl by the whole scientific community, even if she couldn't have been a match to someone like him. 

In retrospect he would have considered that first conversation with her which had happened in another worldline, one of the strangest and most important conversations of his life. John Titor's theories always had his interest, he read an infinity of books about them, being surprised by how the concept of time was fascinating; and he could never have imagined that with that know-it-all attitude, a girl of his age could take apart those theories with such easiness.  
Boring and arrogant - that was the first impression she left him with, but with the future events he would have understood that _he_ had been the one to end up with his back against the wall.


	2. Curiosity.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On a hot summer day Makise Kurisu joins the Future Gadget Laboratory.

Being a mad scientist was a full-time job: he used to spend his days in the Lab working on those gadgets that should "overturn the world's ruling structure". It was an unpaid job which forced him to go on eating cup noodles and sleeping on that sofa that was already too small for his long figure, but he felt like he couldn't - and wouldn't - quit that kind of life.

He would never have expected after the upteenth banana transformed in a weird kind of jelly and after seeing that body lying in a pool of blood, to see Makise Kurisu appearing on the Lab's door determined to discover the truth about that old, strange microwave. He couldn't really understand how she could have been so interested in an invention which was - at least at first sight - pretty much useless. Even though to be honest, he had started to think about it since the moment when - with unexpected courage- she had tried to eat that weird looking and tasteless jelly which were gelbanas without even flinching.

«You! You told me that your name was Christina, didn't you?»  
«I never said that.» she pointed out with slight annoyance.  
«To get to know the secrets of this object you have to agree to my terms. First: you have to become a full fledged member of the research group of the Future Gadget Laboratory.» He saw her thinking about it seriously for a moment. Someone else would have refused on the spot, but Makise Kurisu was a genius girl with a bottomless curiosity, not "someone else".  
«Becoming a member of your Laboratory, you say... Mmmh, you know, I plan to come back to America next month, I don't know if-»  
«Until then will be fine. And second...» he begun as a creepy smile was plastered on his face. «You have to forget the sexual harassment you were subjected to. Here, that's all»

Okabe couldn't help but smirk satisfyingly. Now, after the terrible impression he left the last time, they were even and he didn't even care about Daru saying that his somewhat doubtful morals as a man made him look admirable at his eyes.They went on arguing conceitedly for ten whole minutes trying to get the other into admitting of possessing a perverted mind, until they came to the conclusion that there would have been no end to their discussion if they went on like that.

«Alright, alright!», Kurisu pouted. «If you stop calling me a pervert I'll stop saying you're a sex maniac.»  
«We have a deal», he concluded victoriously. «From now on you will be member 004 of this Lab. Welcome aboard, assistant.»  
«Hey, I'm nobody's assistant!»

He had the impression that, that summer he would have a lot of fun and that, despite everything the dear Christina would be a valid asset for his research. In the hot weather of that day at the end of July, with gelbanas and stupid quarrels, a new member entered their group. The Lab had gotten bigger and, maybe his heart as well.


	3. Tsundere.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okabe tries to understand what kind of person Makise Kurisu is, but Einstein gets in the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally decided to continue posting this collection. I know a lot of time has passed, but I wasn't really convinced of my work. Luckily now I have the wonderful and incredibly patient [@topcatnikki](https://topcatnikki.tumblr.com/) to beta this thing as well as the previous chapters. I hope you like it!

The consequences of having Shiina Mayuri, Urushibara Ruka, and Makise Kurisu cooking together for the first time had been a near fire, a stinking lab, and if that wasn’t enough- a blackout.Since when had life in the lab become so pleasantly lively? Being surrounded by people was a strange feeling, but not necessarily a bad one.

«Look at where you put your feet,» Daru said an instant before a dull thud and a lament of pain announced that Christina had become acquainted with the dusty floor of the lab. A soft laugh resounded in the darkness beside him. His Assistant was laughing? She probably bumped her head during the fall.  
«What is it,» he asked abruptly.  
«No, sorry,» he heard her murmur with laughter still in her voice. «It’s just that the research center where I work in America is a host of brainiacs coming from all over the world. They are all so ruthless and full of themselves that in comparison your lab is indeed childish, but it's nice to be part of it.»

There was something strange in the tone of voice that his assistant had assumed. In the days spent with her he had started to make some theories about what kind of person Kurisu Makise really was. A spy of The Organization? A bit too lenient and self-confident 18-year-old? None of these descriptions seemed more appropriate than the others and between a mail in the past and another, he had begun to observe her, trying to understand.

«I-I wasn’t making a compliment, be it clear, it was just something that bounced in my head and I told you without thinking».

Tsundere. Daru was right in saying that there would probably never have been an adjective that would have best defined that aspect of Kurisu's personality. He wondered why... At that thought, he smiled at her and spoke without thinking too much about what to say.

«Maybe I just wanted friends.»  
He heard her startle. «I consider you a companion...» Again that voice. «I mean, the other day you were saying that you consider us precious comrades, and I must say that... it made me happy to hear that.»

No, Kurisu Makise was not just an eighteen-year-old prodigy with great trouble in being honest with herself, but without a doubt, he wasn’t suited to give an accurate judgment in that field. After all, Hōōin Kyōma, the mad scientist, really didn’t know what to answer to such a statement of affection. He should have consulted Okabe Rintarō, the eighteen-year-old who had looked after Shiina Mayuri as if she were his sister since childhood, but Okabe Rintarō, at that time, could not be reached.  
"Do you have a fever?"  
"Heck, no! Stupid Okabe, just as I was starting to reconsider my opinion of you!"

And here again, his tsundere Assistant: Hōōin Kyōma breathed a sigh of relief because people's feelings were a difficult thing to understand- more difficult than a complicated differential equation, or the mysterious microwave that he was still learning to master. When the light reappeared, the instant in which his face and Kurisu Makise's face were separated only by a few inches, seemed to dilate infinitely. At that moment neither Okabe Rintarō nor Hōōin Kyōma could give a scientific explanation to that phenomenon. Time was really a curious thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi here: [@feelstina](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/feelstina). I have cookies!


	4. Genius.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being a genius isn't always a positive thing. Kurisu dreams of something that never happened... Or not?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a pause, here's the new chapter. This time we have Steins;Gate worldline's Kurisu that dreams/remembers something that happened in the Alpha Attractor Field. As usual, a ginormous "thank you" to the lovely [@topcatnikki](https://topcatnikki.tumblr.com/) that beta'd this chapter.

__

Despite the day moving towards evening, the air in the lab is still unbearable: you feel the need for fresh air to get rid of the weight that seems to crush your chest even though you know it won’t go away that easily.  
A time machine.  
If your father came to know about this he would fly into a rage, and this, more than frightening- will make you infinitely sad. You don’t deny to yourself that there have been many times when you only wanted to be Kurisu, and not Makise Kurisu, the brilliant neuroscientist of just eighteen years. It would mean still having a father, you think bitterly- a united family, being a normal teenager.  
You hear a familiar voice calling you, and raising your gaze the lab looks like a floating bubble with fuzzy contours, as well as Okabe Rintarō's face that looks at you in an attempt to figure out what's going on in your mind.  
«I guess that there’s no point in hiding it anymore», you find yourself thinking as you remember how the day before he had found you with tears in your eyes as you were speaking at the phone.

 

The scene suddenly changes. You are in a dark place, you barely can see the shimmer of the smooth metal surface of a slide lit by the dim moonlight. You don’t see Okabe, but for some reason unknown to you, you feel with certainty that he's somewhere nearby.  
«Well then, we can start the Operation Verthandi!» He exclaims. His words seem to be an echo coming from your mind, but you don’t pay it attention because a strong sense of disappointment assaults you. You know you confided to him a bit because you didn’t have a choice, because you hoped he would console you- even if you hate to admit it- but Okabe Rintarō doesn’t seem to pay attention to anything other than his usual adolescent syndrome ramblings.  
«I shouldn’t have told you anything.»  
Those words come out in a more disappointed tone than you would expect, and that scares you because it means that you were basically hoping for him to console you- to pay attention only to you- even if for a moment. But the words that he says right after move something in your chest that you’re not able to name yet. Going to your father in Aomori together and exploiting the atmosphere of the moment? It was Okabe's typical delirium, but you can’t stop smiling.  
«Then it’s decided, I'll take you with me... whether you like it or not.»

§

The hotel room is still coated in shadow when you wake up. You breathe slowly as you try to figure out what happened. You’re lying on the bed of your hotel room in a desolate Nevada town, you probably fell asleep reading the latest test reports. You look at the date on the led watch on the bedside table: 3.45 of June 12, 2011.  
«Was it ... a dream?»

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi to [@feelstina](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/feelstina). I have cookies!


	5. Companion.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After completing the Time Leap Machine Okabe says something unexpected to Kurisu. Panic and mixed feelings ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit faster than usual, here's the new chapter beta'd by the always so patient [@topcatnikki](https://topcatnikki.tumblr.com/). We're exactly at episode 12 (halfway through the anime), but the collection will feature some extras that take place in various spin-offs of the series (like Steins;Gate 0, Babel Of The Grieved Maze or Load Region Of Dejà Vu and so on).  
> I hope you'll like them!

Though it was already sunset, the scorching heat that held Akihabara and the entire Chiyoda district in its hellish grip seemed not to consider diminishing. In a sense she felt disappointed but at the same time exceptionally relieved, because although the idea of having created a machine that allowed her to control the time- ready to be experimented and to make every single fiber of her being burn with scientific curiosity- she couldn’t not agree with Okabe that they had pushed too far in that domain of things under the jurisdiction of God or anybody to be superior. Provided there was one, of course. Now that they had decided to make their achievements public, what was most agonizing was the unresolved situation with her father, the one who would be angry with the news of her discovery.

"The problems of the members of my Laboratory are also my problems," Okabe said, and she very jokingly had implied that those words were just an excuse to make her help him out as his assistant.  
"It's because you're a precious companion."

That unexpectedly serious and unresponsive reception was the last thing she would have ever expected because no, she could not have all that importance to someone- she was a "experiment - loving genius girl", an assistant- but nothing more to that childish chūnibyō.

"Ah... t-thank you."

She was surprised herself by her reaction: in short, blushing that way as the protagonist of a shōjo manga was by no means her, and even Okabe had become red as a tomato as he approached her dangerously and--

"H-hey! What are you doing?" She murmured as the boy touched her forehead with little delicacy.  
"You're saying things not suitable for an assistant!"

Not appropriate. It was so typical of the stupid man to see all her manifestations of affection as inadequate. In the end she knew, there was little to do when it came to Okabe, since every step forward in their relationship was followed by two steps back. That guy was just an idiot, indeed- the king of idiots- but... Towards him she... It was better not to think about it.

"But... But... I-is not that I'm grateful to you. Mine was... How to say... A formal thanksgiving. "

She felt the urge to slap herself but she stopped- doing such a move before Okabe would have been equal to admitting that he was right to call her a tsundere. Because she was not in the most absolute way. Not at all. And of course if her heart had skipped a beat in knowing that she was so important to him as he did not experiment with the Time Leap Machine in order to avoid further deteriorating her relationship with her father- it was because of the excessive heat and the consequent lowering of blood pressure, not because she felt something for him or such.

_Stupid of an Okabe, sometimes you're such a good guy..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi here: [@feelstina](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/feelstina). I have cookies!


	6. Mad Scientist.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prisoner of a time loop in which Mayuri's death can't be prevented, Okabe has a meaningful encouter with his "vermillion sooter".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know It's been a real while since I last updated, but university is keeping me incredibly busy with little to no time to dedicate to my hobbies. But still, here I am, with the always so patient cooperation of [@topcatnikki](https://topcatnikki.tumblr.com/), who is beta'ing these short stories.  
> I described Kurisu as a "vermillion sooter" since that's the title of her route in Linear Bounded Phenogram. "Sooter" stands for the Greek word "soter", which means "savior". I think that, in a way, Kurisu has saved Okabe more times than he could count.  
> Enjoy!

_Who am I?_

_Okabe Rintarō._

_Where am I?_

_Akihabara, Chiyoda District, Tokyo, Japan._

_What day is today?_

_August 13th._

_How long… has it been August 13?_

 

Nothing seems to make any sense in that timeless endless loop. No matter how much you struggle, how much you try, how much you think and fight with all your might, the cruel will of the universe seems to be inevitable, impossible to change. Mayuri is destined to die again and again, and - despite everything, even though you have gone beyond your own limits - there is nothing you can do to prevent it. You want to scream, despair, but a familiar voice interrupts your monologue.

"Kurisu..."

She is there, she looks at you with her usual frown, her chestnut hair lit by the light of the dying sun and her sharp words. It took her just a word, that word, to understand the situation, to confirm that there is definitely something’s wrong with you, with the world, and that's enough for you to finally give in to tears without shame, without being able to see the concern in those blue eyes that don’t shift even for a moment from your figure.  
She says nothing, she doesn’t blame you, she doesn’t say that you’re reckless or an assassin, she quietly listens to you until the end, while the sun lowers inexorably behind the line of the horizon.

"I want to become your strength."

You hear these words with the calmness and lucidity that have always characterized her as she exposes her will to help you save that friend who is so precious and dear for both of you. Your eyes finally meet hers and for a long moment you do not know what to say or do, you just can look at her almost as if she was the materialization of the goddess Izanami in person.

"So, where’s the Mad Scientist I know? Didn’t you have the intention to overturn the world’s control structure or something like that?!” Despite the sharp words her voice and gaze are so gentle. "Naturally!   
Fuahahahahah!"

Her gaze becomes unexpectedly serious as, as if she wanted to remind you of who you really are, she imitates that pose that had always been your trademark. Her cheeks turn red as an embarrassed laughter escapes from her lips and, more than anything else, you think she is wonderful when, with her shy smile, lets your hand, with hesitation, find itself closed in her thin fingers.

You can still subvert the will of the universe if she’s with you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi here : [@feelstina](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/feelstina). I have cookies!


	7. Theory Of Relativity.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurisu has to die in order to save Mayuri. While she's willing to sacrifice herself for her friend, feelings get in the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New update after a long time. And here's the bomb, one of the chapters that made me cry more in my writing process (is there even a thing in S;G that doesn't make me cry, I wonder?). Thanks to the infinite patience of my beloved beta [@topcatnikki](https://topcatnikki.tumblr.com/) now I can gladly announce that all of the 13 chapters have been fully translated and edited, so my updates will be much faster and regular than before!

The rain stormed unstoppable outside the window, but Kurisu didn’t pay any attention to it. There was something much more important she had to deal with, a mission she wasn’t allowed to fail. She had come to the Lab right in time to keep Okabe from making a new - the umpteenth - Time Leap.

That story had to end: behind those tired eyes she could clearly observe a heart that was now shattered by all the sacrifices the universe had imposed upon him. It was a sight she couldn’t bear, that was tearing her heart with guilt. As if Okabe still hesitating was her fault. The real burden was her, she who was the last obstacle between him and Mayuri's salvation, and, for this very reason, she had realized that the time to step back once and for all had come.  
It was okay, after all, even her father had never liked her existence, if she had disappeared it would have been better for Mayuri, for Okabe, for everyone. Yet, despite having rationally realized that her death was the only plausible solution to all the problems, a part of her refused to disappear. What sense would they have, those eighteen years she'd lived if nobody would even remember her? It had never been clearer as that time that people existed largely through others.   
But in the end it was fine that they would forget, as long as a simple, selfish request was granted.

"Okabe, you .. Will you remember me?"

She had spoken slowly, with a small voice, and the answer that followed struck her with the strength of a running train. 

Such irony of fate. Finding out that Okabe, who she knew she loved helplessly, returned her feelings just before she disappeared.  
Fate was cruel, she wanted to say that it was the same for her, that she liked him too, but the envious time flowed to an end and was whispering that revealing the truth would have made it all more difficult. Yet she could not help but hope that she wouldn't be forgotten and that in a corner of his heart, Okabe would bring with him the memory of that clumsy kiss stolen in the darkness of the Lab, her hands on his coat, the warmth of her embrace and their lips touching again and again. She would have liked those moments to stretch endlessly, while Okabe looked at her with that look that was doing nothing but repeating how much he really loved her and did not want to lose her, but the time of the world in that moment was no longer on her side.

 

"The theory of relativity is so romantic, but also... so sad."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi here: [@feelstina](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/feelstina). I have cookies!


	8. Beyond The Steins;Gate.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They weren't supposed to meet again, but the laws of the universe work in very mysterious ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH-OH-OH! Merry Christmas, everyone! With this chapter I've officially covered all the events shown in the anime, so the next ones will be extras set in various spin-offs of the series.  
> As usual, if these stories don't completely suck is because the wonderful [@topcatnikki](https://topcatnikki.tumblr.com/) has beta'd all of them, so thank you, darling!

It's a hot summer day like any other, in Akihabara. Thousands of people busily populate the great street of the station, unaware of all that has happened, unaware of being in the timeline for which you have fought so desperately both in the past and in a future that you have not lived and that, probably, you'll never live.

Although you know that Kurisu Makise will not remember anything of the three important weeks spent together, the sense of loss is far less than what you would have expected. Because it is true, you will be strangers whose paths, like tangent lines have met only once in that mysterious flow which is time, and then divide forever. Who knows where she will be, now. Most likely she will have already returned to America, with her heart and mind captured by some of her as incredible as fascinating theories. 

Of you, Okabe Rintarō, there will be nothing left but the vague memory of a student with delusions of grandeur, without even a vague shadow of those days that now seem an eternity away. Lost in those days where you believed you had all the time in the world in the palm of a hand.

But it has no importance, at the end of the day. What you care about is that she is alive, speaks, thinks, smiles with all her strength. You are under the same sky, in a timeline where the future is nothing but a blank page to be written, and even if your paths never meet again, all you need to know is that in that single reality among the endless possibilities of the worldlines, she exists and will continue to do so, even if you are not beside her.

People continue to walk undeterred along that big crowded street of Akihabara and, in an instant, without resorting to strange abilities or contraptions, time seems to slow down suddenly until it almost stops. Chestnut hair floats in the wind, passing by, to suddenly stop.  
You almost can’t believe it, you stopped believing in destiny the moment you saw Mayuri's life fading away for the first time, but she is there, in front of you, the tears that press to fall and an expression of utter wonder painted on her face, while, with that tenderness she had always tried to hide, she thanks you for saving her life.

Fighting the embarrassment and the irrational desire to hold her in your arms, you bring the phone to your ear, letting Hōōin Kyōma's strange ways of doing being your business card once again.  
"Welcome, my new assistant, Makise Kurisu, or rather… Christina," he comments with a smile as you give her the brooch you thought would never reach his recipient.  
"Look, I told you that my name is not Christina and I'm not your assistant."

And if fate does not exist, that encounter, perhaps, can only be the choice of Steins; Gate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi here: [@feelstina](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/feelstina). I have cookies!


	9. Extra - Realization.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set during the days that precede the elimination of the last D-Mail, Kurisu realizes her feelings towards Okabe when it's too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, everyone!  
> This is the first of the extras I've written for this collection, and it's a re-take of a specific moment of Babel Of The Grieved Maze's manga chapter 5. For those who are new to this name, Babel is a drama CD of the S;G series which had a wonderful manga transposition that has been partially translated in English and Italian. Narrated by Kurisu's pov we have a sneak peak of what she did and thought during the days that preceded the elimination of the last D-Mail, with some really interesting info on her, Doctor Nakabachi and Faris' past.

The laboratory was deserted. There was an unreal calm that, at first glance, she would never have thought of being able to associate with a place usually so lively. The blackboard, once adorned with a Venn diagram, was now filled with disordered sentences written in her handwriting. She had used all the logic, all the knowledge she possessed, but there was no other solution than the one already identified: to save Mayuri the first D-Mail had to be erased and her existence, the existence of Kurisu Makise, had to be canceled.

She put the pen back in place with a sigh, sitting down on the old sofa with a composed look.  
"A scientist must know how to accept the solutions found," she murmured, dropping her head against the backrest.

She would not let her determination waver in such a moment, she was ready to be sacrificed if it meant saving that friend who had become so important to her in so little time and that, above all, was so precious to him. She no longer wanted to be a burden, and yet, in a corner of her heart, in that fragile part of herself that she had never shown to anyone, something kept her from actually accepting that solution. Even if it meant questioning the unshakable logic of the latter. And, the moment she first wondered what was holding her to the point of making her hesitate, Okabe's face was the first thing that crossed her mind.

She jumped up, her white coat waving with every movement. "Oh, c’mon, do you think that this is a behavior suitable for an adult ?! I'm simply ashamed to walk beside you! ", she snapped almost as if she was addressing Okabe himself. "And then what are those pants? They almost look like moss grew on them, aren’t you ashamed? Damn... A guy who can’t even read the atmosphere could never be my type!"  
The last words came out with the strangled voice of one who was holding back the tears with all the desperation she was capable of. It was at that moment that that face and those words echoed in her mind, vivid as if that person were in front of her at that precise moment.

_"If I do it, it's because you're a... Precious companion."_

It was as if something had broken in her. She collapsed on the floor, her face streaked with those tears she didn’t feel coming, the realization hit her with the force of a blow to the solar plexus, taking her breath away. The solution was so simple, yet, as silly as she was, she hadn’t wanted to see it, believing that using logic she would have been able to hold back, she ignored it until her feelings overflowed, her body shaken by the sobs as she finally gave a name to the sweet and painful grip that held her chest.

I admit it, already. With Okabe Rintarō I'm... I’m in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi here: [@feelstina](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/feelstina). I have cookies!


	10. Extra - Decision.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The worldline convergence can't be escaped. That, is a matter of fact. But Okabe always knows how to contest her theories. Set in Alpha Worldline after Mayuri's death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this story takes places in "The Distant Valhalla", a spin-off Light Novel of the S;G series, I thought that some explanations might be useful to understand the situation:  
> \- The story is set in a worldline of the Alpha Attractor Field where Okabe has given up saving Mayuri after watching her die too many times. In this worldline Okabe, Daru and Kurisu are taken prisoners by SERN to work on the construction of the Time Machine, leading eventually to the dystopia in which Alpha-Suzuha lived. 
> 
> -In this LN Okabe and Daru manage to come up with a plan to escape from SERN while saving Kurisu, but their plans are somewhat stopped by the wordline convergence, since Kurisu is destined to become the "mother of the Time Machine" and Okabe and Daru are bounded to found the Valkyries (a resistance corp against the dystopia). 
> 
> \- Hiiragi Akiko is a woman that works for SERN and that pretends to be "Neidthart" the person who was supposed to help our favorite trio to escape.

The LHC tunnel is illuminated by the almost blinding light of neon lamps when you come to your senses. Strangely, unlike your expectations, you don’t feel pain. It seems that the wave of bullets, whose noise still echoes in your ears. As if it were the work of a miracle in which you would never have hoped, it has not even touched you.

A tired and desperate voice calls your name and you finally and fully return to reality. The figure of Okabe Rintarō, bleeding and exhausted, covers your slim body lying on the ground. The blaze of a feeling that you can not put a name on ignites your chest when you realize that Okabe has shielded you with his body to keep you safe, but you can not prevent the sweetness of that feeling be brutally erased from the reality of the facts.

It is at that moment that you realize that Hiiragi Akiko and SERN had always been right: the Attractor Fields, the worldline convergence and the alteration of causality... It was all cruelly real, and, if Okabe was still alive he owed it to the sick will of the universe that had decreed that another fifteen long years of suffering were the price to pay for having thought of being able to subvert its laws.

"I'll stay here."

Yet something prevents you from giving up completely while, calmly and delicately, you free yourself from the protective grip that surrounds you and you walk towards the woman who observes you with a cruel smile, with straight shoulders and a great determination in your eyes. To be honest, your only wish is to cry, despair for the cruel fate that has affected you, but you can’t afford to do it. You must be strong for Okabe as well, who helplessly observes you, reaching out a hand towards you, with his last remaining strength,. You know that turning around would be the wrong move, because your heart is aching so much watching that person so important to you to look at you with the pain, despair and fear of losing you forever painted in amber eyes. You feel the tears gathering but, forcing a smile, you can finally talk.

"Hey, Okabe...", you whisper quietly in a broken voice. "What Amane-san has observed is nothing but fragments and pieces of the future. Between the present and the future you have seen there is nothing but a blank page, so nothing prevents us from changing it. "  


You move your gaze as if looking at his figure for another moment might make your determination waver.  


"I have given up logic and theories because I want to believe in you, I want to believe in what you have told me." Your posture becomes firm, your gaze is proud in hiding the tears that cloud your eyes. "I will remain here of my own free will, so...".  
Your steps echo in the unreal silence while Hiiragi Akiko welcomes you with a smile that makes the blood in your veins freeze.  
"Come and get me, one day."

 

_Farewell, Okabe…_


	11. Extra - Under The Same Sky (I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He abandoned Kurisu for the sake of Mayuri's happiness. He tried to forget her and go on. But the god of the universe - if one ever existed - has a cruel sense of humor. Set during Steins;Gate 0.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not gonna write an essay about what Steins;Gate 0 is about. You can find plenty of material regarding it on the net (we're even going to get the long awaited anime adaptation, so it's worth trying playing the Visual Novel, if you want to listen to my advice). This story is set during the very beginning of the story, right after Okabe's first meeting with Amadeus.

"Greetings. My name is Makise Kurisu. Nice to meet you, Okabe Rintarō-san"

Your breath seems to die in your chest. That voice that you couldn’t forget even if you wanted to. That voice polite and sometimes a little pedantic. Those eyes hidden behind the screen of a computer, behind the display of a cell phone, which does not recognize you. The chestnut hair falls on the white lab coat while her amethyst gaze lingers in yours with sincere curiosity. You body trembles before that figure that you hold so dearly in your heart. She saved you an infinite number of times, kept you from collapsing when everything seemed lost and eventually... She sacrificed herself for everyone.  
Forgetting Makise Kurisu and pretending that everything was fine. That had been your ambition. Carrying the burden of everything on your shoulders only, letting the sense of guilt consume you slowly from within. Yet something was missing. Something has always been missing from that fateful July 28th and now you've found it, in an incomplete form, because of the cruel irony of fate.

It's as if the special person you've been looking for a long, long time suddenly appeared before your eyes; but, when you stretch your arm to touch it, you realize that there is an insurmountable wall of glass to divide you.

Like two tangent lines you and Makise Kurisu are forced, under the same sky, to get closer and closer, without ever really touching, while the desire to be able to see her again, to be able to hold her, imprints itself more and more in your heart.


	12. Extra - Under The Same Sky (II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She firmly believed in logic for her whole life and never allowed herself to stray from that path. But since she met that weird man clad in a white lab coat her beliefs slowly started to crumble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set during the movie "Load Region Of Dejà Vù". Kurisu's thoughts before boarding the Time Machine and her resolve to save Okabe.

The wind blows on the top of the Radio building in the heart of Akihabara. The cold gray metal of the time machine is in a strange contrast with the bright blue sky spotted from time to time among white clouds.

You don’t know what's gotten into you. The Kurisu Makise you've always known would have never trusted a stranger who claimed to know her as a result of experiences that have never happened, she would have never trusted an ordinary-looking girl who claims to come from the future. But something seems to force you towards that extraordinary invention.

You know almost nothing about Okabe Rintarō, and only now you realize that you would like to know much more. You want to find out more about what is hidden under the mask of the mad scientist. You would like to know more about the person who, with a kiss stolen in the middle of the night, said goodbye before disappearing as if it had never existed.

A part of you shouts loudly that it is madness. Okabe has never been so far from you, how could you just hope to save someone from something you don’t know? Yet something inevitably pulls you towards him. He who is under the same sky, but in a different universe.

It is as if you are throwing yourself, with your eyes closed, from the top of a cliff. Entrusting you only to a red thread that may not exist.

The door of the time machine closes behind you. Perhaps that thread will lead you back to him. After all, to prove a theory you have to test it.


	13. Extra - Reality.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thin line between dream and reality blurs in front of a Californian sunset.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set during Ep. 25.

The sun sets low over the burning horizon of the Californian desert while Okabe looks at you as if you were the only thing he ever needed.  
You don’t know what to think. Everything that has happened to you, everything that has been told to you seems too out of this world to have actually happened. Yet, when Okabe pronounces those words, the light tingling that you feel on your skin, the accelerated beating of your heart, and the blurred images of a past that now appears more tangible than ever, seem to whisper that everything you have always struggled to to believe is reality.

_A slide illuminated by the faint light of the moon and the promise to go to Aomori together. Despair in wanting to save Mayuri at any cost. The desire to disappear only in order to put an end to the anguish of having to choose. The tears shed alone in that laboratory and finally giving a name to that painful feeling. Words addressed to the future. An encounter that seems desired by destiny._

_It really happened._

A gust of warm wind passes through your hair as the sun dies behind the dunes of hot sand. As you try to deny it with your theories, you can not evade the truth.

"I want to know it. How do you feel towards me?”

You can’t forget everything that you have lived together.

_It has never been a dream._

"Do you want to know? Then..."

You can not evade the amber gaze of Okabe that gets lost in yours.

"Close your eyes".

_It has never been a dream. This is reality._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... This is it. It's been a long and wild ride, but I'm satisfied by how this collection turned out. A huge "thank you" to those who had the patience to follow this work despite my irregular updates and terrible schedule and to those who left even a tiny kudo.  
> An ENORMOUS "thank you" also goes to [@topcatnikki](https://topcatnikki.tumblr.com/) who always so patiently read and beta'd my short stories encouraging me to go on despite my lack of confidence in my writing skills (there are no words that can properly express how grateful I am, senpai!).


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